In networking technology, the Router Redundancy Protocol (RRP) is used to provide fail-over support (i.e., router redundancy support) in Layer-3 networking devices (i.e., routers). RRP exists in various vendor specific implementations such as, for example, V.R.R.P (Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol), X.R.R.P. (Extended Router Redundancy Protocol) which is provided by HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY, and H.S.R.P. (Hot Standby Router Protocol). RRP essentially creates one virtual router from two routers so that if a primary router that provides connections for network users to resource (e.g., the Internet or other networks) fails, then RRP permits a secondary router (i.e., (the fail-over router) to assume the functions of the primary router, so that the users can continue to access the resource via the secondary router. The fail-over functionality from the primary router to the secondary router is invisible (transparent) to the network users, so that the users' connection to the resource is not disturbed when the routing functions fails-over from the primary router to the secondary router.
The current implementations of RRP rely on firmware that is implemented within the router device itself to provide the necessary configuration (e.g., IP addresses of the primary router and secondary router, IP address associated with the virtual router formed by the physical device routers), fault detection, and fail-over functionality. In other words, the router devices are directly configured in order to implement the RRP functionalities. However, current implementations of RRP limit the number of routers to only two routers (the primary router and the secondary router). Additionally, current implementations require the routers to be from the same manufacturer who supports the same implementation type for RRP. Therefore, the current RRP implementations are unable to use routers with no built-in RRP support.
Therefore, the current technology is limited in its capabilities and suffers from at least the above constraints and deficiencies.